Years passed. We survived. I got a little heavier. My job at the landfill was steady. Kelly moved from Walmart to Safeway.
We began to think about what Ed might do when he left school at fifteen. I had a word with my boss, trying to get him a place at the landfill. Kelly’s boss said there might be an opening stacking shelves in a few years.
One night, I was late back from the landfill. Just twenty minutes, but it nearly cost me my life. I was turning the corner to my block when I heard an engine behind me. The car was crawling along. My belly flipped.
I didn’t turn, just walked faster.
The car drew alongside. A cop car.
Oh, Christ…
The driver said, “Stop right there and turn around real slow.”
I did that.
The fat cop grinned. “Hey, look what we got ourselves here, Gene. If it ain’t a fuckin’ target.”
His partner leaned forward, took a long look at me.
The driver said, “ID.”
I passed him my card.
He scanned it, passed it back. I could see him calculating. Shoot me now, through the head, or have a little fun, let me run and get me in the back…?
“You work at Macready’s landfill?”
“That’s right, sir.”
He said to his buddy, “We ain’t stiffed no one from the ’fill in years, have we?”
“Don’t think we have at that,” Gene said.
He passed me my ID. “Off you go, boy.”
I turned, shaking, and began walking. I thought of Kelly, making dinner at home. I thought of Ed, and the girl he’d been seeing lately…
I tensed myself for the bullet. Just make it quick, I thought. In the head…
The cop car started up. Caught up with me and drove alongside. The driver laughed. “Your lucky day, boy! You thank your fuckin’ god I ain’t in the mood.”
They drove off, laughing, and it was all I could do to stop myself yelling obscenities after the bastards.
Ed was thirteen when he came home one day and said, “Dad, it’s unfair.”
I shrugged. “Life is unfair, Ed.”
“But why…?”
“The country’s overpopulated, Ed. The cops need to meet their quota.”
“I suppose I meant… why me? Why us?”
I didn’t like the whine in his voice. I shrugged again. “Why not? Life’s a lottery. You take the good with the bad. It’s no good complaining.”
“But...”
“There’s nothing you can do,” I said. “End of. Learn to live with it. Do you hear your mom complain? Me?”
“I just wish...”
I sighed. “Try not to wish, Ed,” I said. “Just accept.”
Life wasn’t that bad. We had the apartment. It was warm in winter, cool in summer. I had the job, my friends down the bar. Every month, I took Ed to a game. I felt safe in the crowd. I had Kelly, a woman who loved me, and a son who was growing into big, kind, bright young man.
I watched the news, but didn’t take much notice. There was nothing I could do to make anything better. The way I looked at it, the world had always been going to hell in a handcart – so why worry? Just accept.
Ed left school and got a job at Safeway. He walked in every morning with Kelly, and came back with her at six. The extra income bought us a few luxuries: takeaways at the Thai place that had just opened along the block, and a subscription to one of the big cable channels
I was fifty, and I’d never been happier in my life.
One day, Kelly and Ed were late back from work.
I tried not to worry, but they were never late.
I called Kelly’s cell phone. No reply. The same with Ed’s.
Six-thirty came and went, then seven. I tried calling them again.